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Mike: At the same time, one of the big stories was that linebacker Adalius Thomas was a healthy scratch. I was there in the locker room Wednesday when Thomas addressed reporters for the first time, and it looked to me like his pride was hurt. What are your thoughts on that situation?

Tedy: Back in 2006, when we lost to the Broncos, I was at inside linebacker along with Junior Seau. The next day, Coach Belichick pulled me and Junior into his office and spoke to us privately, and he told us that with all the experience we had combined, we had put forth the worst performance he had ever seen by two inside linebackers. To watch the game, it wasn't glaringly awful and we didn't have individual plays where we gave up touchdowns. We didn't have penalties that cost us the game. But we did have bad reads versus the run. When we flowed left, it should have been right, or we stepped forward when we should have flowed over the top. Those were examples of mistakes we shouldn't have made. Then we went to the team meeting, and along with other mistakes the team made in the game, he showed the missteps that Junior and I had. That is how Coach Belichick calls out veteran players who he wants to play better for him and meet his standards, which are very high. He does it privately and then in front of the team. The deactivation of Adalius Thomas was public. It's a move where everyone can look at it and question it, and pull away every single layer to try to figure things out. That is different. Yes, Adalius does not have the best numbers right now -- 12 tackles and one sack. But just based on production, a deactivation isn't warranted. This has to be something else. This is a total different form of discipline than Bill typically uses with veteran players who have been productive over the course of their careers in New England, like Adalius has been for him. This is something to be watched closely as the season progresses. Will Adalius end up being a contributing member of the team once again? It's highly possible he can. But right now, he is in the doghouse, and Coach Belichick's is one of the toughest doghouses to get out of.

Well, this is as close as we're going to get to the source, so it does sound serious.

EDIT: I have to say that Bruschi's breakdowns are some of the best analysis I have read lately. Goes deep and is quite insightful.

We learn more about Maroney (Bruschi: he had a great game last week because he couldn't just dance around because the snow doesn't allow that, so it took away any incentive to stop and make decisions).

And Galloway: (Just couldn't put in that extra effort to learn the playbook as well as have the guts to go across the middle)

And a little insight on the Broncos game: (The "wildhorse" forced the Pats D to go vanilla a lot more than it wanted to, so that made it easier for Denver to pick them apart).

In retrospect, I think Bruschi hit the nail on the head on that last analysis- and so we have to pay kudos to McDaniels for that "wildhorse" trick. He knew he only had to whip it out for one series to make BB guard against it for the rest of the game. This makes a lot of sense to me now.

One of the things you will consistently hear his former players say is that Bill is a straight shooter, never a bull****ter, and you always know where you stand with him if you're being honest with yourself. That would lead me to believe whatever the issue was or issues were Bill took it up with AD sometime prior to deactivating him. Bill will never reveal what it was, and AD seems intent on pretending he was blindsided.

We know he missed some practices when there was no injury so perhaps a personal or business issue arose (including potentially the union) that he felt as a vet he could tend to and Bill wasn't really down with that. Or he's called him out more than once in private or in meetings and the player didn't respond (or maybe attempted to shift blame for his performance onto the system as he did with the media or maybe let it be known within the locker room he thought BB was FOS...).

One of the other things Bill disliked about the way his mentor operated was the different rules for different talents. They exist to some extent almost everywhere else. Bill treats situations individually but not players differently. Nobody is above discipline here, least of all his talents and his leaders. He'd bench Brady (as if Tom would ever give him reason to...). AD did or didn't do something or said something that warranted his sitting, whatever that may be.

I like BB's management style as related by Tedy. Gutsy and direct. As a manager in high tech I can say that some people after you've called them in your office more than once for a direct confrontation on performance problems, still exhibit 'shock' to their peers when the inevitable happens. Moreso for the presumed superstars; they cannot comprehend that someone has any issue whatsoever with them. People are people.

I'm also excited to watch BenJarvus Green-Ellis, as I think he's a player fans can get excited about. He goes downhill and runs straight ahead. That approach is always respected in football circles.

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I guess that's Bru-Speak for "JAG, the kind of guy you can find on the street mid-season for peanuts"

I think this is my fave quote from Tedy:

I just don't think there is a team that wants to play the Patriots right now after the performance they had last week. Bill Belichick isn't the type to rest on his laurels. He pushes the pedal to the floor. He'll want to continue the development of the offense and defense this week. Development for him means production and decisive victories.

The genesis of much of this is the foray when BB was with the Giants, and Lawrence Taylor started operating outside of the expectations of the franchise... "Education of a Coach" is very revealing in his evolution that no one player is greater than the team, if you do not meet the expectations then stuff happens...

And a little insight on the Broncos game: (The "wildhorse" forced the Pats D to go vanilla a lot more than it wanted to, so that made it easier for Denver to pick them apart).

In retrospect, I think Bruschi hit the nail on the head on that last analysis- and so we have to pay kudos to McDaniels for that "wildhorse" trick. He knew he only had to whip it out for one series to make BB guard against it for the rest of the game. This makes a lot of sense to me now.

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Given the above analysis, can someone experienced in the game tell me something: Miami wild-cat, Denver wild-horse...is a single type of unique O is all it takes for our D to go 'vanilla' and easy for the opposing O to take us apart?

Follow-up query: If that be the case, can't every O have something unique like that say during the playoffs to catch the opposing D off-guard?

Before someone responds that it is a one-trick pony, I want to point out that Miami is currently using the wild-cat quite powerfully and effectively (as we saw them in the Jets game). I am quite curious to see how they do against the Saints, who no doubt will be prepared for it but again, Miami had their bye-week and so might have some wrinkles to catch the Saints D off-guard. Should be interesting.

He has destroyed the Buccaneers organization. Yes, destroyed. He has cut legends, fired brilliant offensive minds and changed the defensive system (which produced 10 top 10 defenses in 11 years) in the name of "Change". Sound familiar?

He has worked for and in conjunction with....

The Glazers. (worst owners in the NFL - been cheapest team since 2002).

The Glazers needed two young, inexperienced "yes men" to accept the position of death. Running the cheapest team in the NFL was not the goal of Gruden (who was fired because he voiced his opinion at their frugality) or any other tenured coach that will warrant consideration next season (Cowher, Holmgren, Shanahan).

As for the game...the Buccaneers will and should lose. By any fluke occurrence that they do win...blame your Patriot players for failing, don't credit the Buccaneers at all. There is NO REASON why the Patriots should not win by 40. The Giants had the kindness to run the ball 40+ times and burn the clock, not only shutting us out but saving us some pride (if getting shut out at home can justify any pride).

The Buccaneers defensive line is the worst in the league. Former top 5 pick Gaines Adams had registered 5 tackles, no sacks, and very few QB hurries this season (4 games) and was promptly traded. Former top 10 pick Ryan Sims is a starter. He is the epitome of journeyman. Complete utter trash. A fat POS that can't commit at the point of attack and can't tackle. Wilkerson is solid at best but disappears for games at a time. Chris Hovan is a big RAH-RAH! guy but sucks during games. He spends more times on his ass than on his feet. Kyle Moore is a 4th round rookie that is hurt.

The Buccaneers secondary is the worst in the league. Strong safety Jermaine "Flip" Phillips is out for the season. Free safety (and pot head) Tanard Jackson is a liability in deep coverage. #2 corner Ronde Barber has performed admirably but he is obviously missing steps from years past. #1 corner Aqib Talib is obviously very physically gifted but is getting abused both down the sidelines and on inside routes. He also won't tackle for some reason.

The backups are the worst in the league. Across the board. Elbert Mack, the nickle-corner is an undersized, undrafted free agent sophomore that gambles. He has already cost the team multiple points. Sabby Piscitelli is the worst safety in the league. He has cost the team three touchdowns already. All on deep routes. He peeks into the backfield and gambles (wrongly). Obviously, a lot of this falls on the D-Line and the lack of pass-rush but a lack of talent in the secondary is more prominent IMO. Will Allen can pack a punch if given the opportunity but he seeks these opportunities out instead of letting them come to him. Out of position a lot.

I suck!​

The linebacker corp is solid even though it's leader is playing out of position. Barrett Ruud is solid but he's no longer being put in positions to makes plays on the ball. Expect some ineffective blitzes from the undersized OLBs.

This is not hyperbole.​

I would like to be in-depth on the offense but it will be even worse than the defense. So....I'll be brief.

Antonio Bryant shouldn't play but if he does he is on a bum knee. Won't make a positive difference.

Michael Clayton aka Stone Hands aka "I'd rather block" aka I'm Stealing a Paycheck won't make a difference. He has no ability to separate and if by some chance he touches a ball it'll be dropped or he'll go 5 yards then run out of bounds. Won't make a positive difference.

Kellen Winslow II. He's by far the best player on the team. Fast as hell and a big boy. Your LBs will need safety help. Shut him down, you shut down the Bucs only threat.

Josh Johnson. I like the kid but he is frail, has arm strength in the bottom third of the league and gets happy feet. Tell Mayo to stalk him and I wouldn't expect much. Considering the Bucs will be down by 40 at half time I expect 5 Ints from Johnson.

Running game. The new Earth, Wind and Fire has talent but as I said before, the team will be down early, the box will be stacked because of the lack of threats and Johnson's inexperience so don't expect anything productive. If the running game gets going, Raheem the Dream will abandon it early.

O-Line. Best unit on the team.......when healthy. Unfortunately Faine is hurt and Sears had a mental breakdown in the off-season. Now it's just average. Blitz early, blitz often. Put ANYONE across from Trueblood and watch the false-start flags fly.

60-0 Patriots

The Patriots are favored by 14 1/2. Take it and bet big. Bet the house. Bet the kids. Bet your life.

BB has shown in the past (even the very recent past) that he's not skittish about scoring when up. And while some find that "direspectful" or "out of bounds" it's one of the things I enjoy about him.

The last thing I'm worrying about on Sunday afternoons on my corner couch is respect. I want to win. The bigger the better. If Draper is even close to his predictions, maybe BB will pull one of his patented beat downs on Tampa.